Module Two: Factors in Content Text Comprehension: 
Why can't they (won't they) read and understand the text?

Objectives:

During this module you will

Introduction

Factors that affect reading comprehension

Newspaper reading provides us with a way to understand the difference in readers and their comprehension.  Although there are many sections of the paper that are written at a level that upper elementary students could read and understand, there are also sections that are much more challenging.  Let’s take a look at three factors that affect comprehension.

  1. Reader Ability, Interest and Motivation

    Think about your own reading of the newspaper.  What sections of the paper do you always read, and which sections do you avoid?  When I read, I always start with Section A, the front-page section, of the paper.  Since I’ve read the paper many times in the past, I know what to expect for structure.  I read in detail the articles that interest me, and I skim the headline and lead paragraph for those that are not as interesting for me.   Since I’ve been successful in the past and have an interest in the articles I’m reading, I’m motivated to read.  I tend to avoid other reading situations, like college level science textbooks and unfamiliar sections of the paper, with which I have had less success.  Students do the same.
  2. The Text 

    The newspaper also has text that is difficult for me.  Sometimes I do not have enough background knowledge to truly understand the articles, like Middle East conflicts that require knowledge of an entire history or financial articles that assume knowledge of complex investment.  If the article is a difficult one, I can sometimes use other text features to aid my comprehension, like bulleted points and graphs and charts.  Just as these articles are challenging for me, content reading seems complex to many students.  They do not have the prior knowledge about the topic that is needed and may not have an understanding of the structure of the writing that would aid their comprehension. 
  3. The Context 

    When I am reading something complex, a quiet environment without interruptions is helpful.  This allows me to focus on what I am reading and more easily process the text.  It is not only easier, but also more enjoyable, to read when I am not stressed with other demands on my time.  The fact that I’m selecting what to read because it is what I want to read is also important.  No one has assigned the articles, and no will be testing me over the information when I finish.

In this module we will examine these same three factors — the reader, the text, and the context of reading — as they impact student text understanding.

Content Text Comprehension: It's a lot like baseball!

Do you recognize the general shape of a baseball diamond sketched out below? Can you identify the components of most baseball diamonds: the dugout, the on deck circle, the base bags?

Baseball diamond

We'll use this familiar shape as a prior knowledge link as we build a model of the stages that both teachers and students go through as we build a classroom context for increasing student content reading ability. Success in baseball is a combination of effective coaching and player skill.

That is also true in reading comprehension. Readers bring some degree of skill and motivation to a reading task, but the teacher coach must also be involved as the reading comprehension “game” evolves.

The Dugout

Who's in the dugout? Players and coaches are the usual inhabitants. Consider for a moment what you know about effective coaches, either individuals you have experienced or others you have observed. Expand your thinking beyond baseball; think about drama club sponsors, cheerleading coaches, band or orchestra, other sports, even clubs or youth groups. Think about the leaders and the leadership behaviors of such activities.

What do effective “coaches” know, and what do they do to achieve high levels of performance from their “teams?”

In our baseball example, we would probably mention such things as knowledge of the game or knowledge of the opposing teams, especially the pitcher. Baseball coaches know the skill levels of each player, including their strengths and areas of needed growth.

Effective coaches know how to motivate players and have some concern for their players well-being and growth beyond the challenges of the current game. Perhaps most significantly, they demonstrate great enthusiasm for their sport or activity.

Some of the reading strategies we will examine have their beginnings in the dug out. You know your content.

  • What do you know about your “players'” reading skill ability?
  • Do you know how to prep them for the game each chapter or text problem will present? The “pitcher” (the text) throws difficult pitches to your players.
  • How well have you scouted that pitcher/text to assist the batter in successfully getting at least to first base?

If you are enthusiastic about teaching your content, if you motivate your students to want to read your content, and if you use information about their individual reading skills, you are already coaching your readers.

On Deck Circle — 
Getting Ready to Read Content

Besides spitting and scratching, what do batters (readers) do in the warm-up circle? Effective baseball players are warming both their body and brain for the challenge of facing the pitcher (text). Failure to warm up either or both will make the chances of getting on base a very unlikely event.

Warm-up reading strategies include accessing prior knowledge; what do I know about this “pitcher” already? Previewing the text/pitcher before getting up to bat (actual reading) is always beneficial, scouting ahead and looking for signs and signals that may help the batter. Other strategies involve the teacher/coach prepping the reader with purpose setting and questioning strategies. Coaching doesn't end when the reader strides out of the dug out. Prior knowledge is the biggest collection of information found in our brains. Accessing it helps us successfully navigate through new and challenging life situations. Engaging readers with strategies that cause them to use such knowledge will greatly aid their comprehension.

If you help your students prepare for reading by previewing text, help them set goals for reading, or give them a specific purpose for reading; you are already warming them up in the batters circle.

First Base —
Can They Read the Words?

To get to first base in content reading, the player/reader must be able to read the words. General vocabulary ability will be useful just as generic athletic skills (running and strength) are useful to most sports. But increasingly important is knowledge of the specific vocabulary of the content being studied.

Comprehension begins at the word level and most students will need some help to reach this base. A multitude of vocabulary strategies will be presented in this course. Unfortunately, not all word learners are born equal in the ability to learn vocabulary. We will examine the three most common types of word learners found in your classroom. Usually all three types of word learners are sitting in your classroom at the same time. Not all strategies work with all three kinds of vocabulary learners; we will learn to adjust strategies to specific students.

If you are assisting vocabulary growth with Latin roots activities, direct teaching of new words, or helping students personalize meanings of needed words; you are already helping them to first base.

Second Base —
Making Plain Sense out of Content Sentences

We want players/readers to progress beyond knowing the words. They must combine the words in sentences into meaningful pieces of information. At this level the readers are trying to make literal sense out of the text or as it is sometimes referred to as reading the “lines” or sentences.

There are many content reading strategies designed to assist students in making plain sense of the text. Although we are pleased when our students are able to recall specific, factual information from the text, usually we want a more thoughtful response beyond this point requiring additional mental processing. "Second base," literal understanding strategies, help students reach higher levels of comprehension such as inference and application.

If you are using lots of "Right There" questions, building paragraph frames, or using a daily self checked review quiz; you have your students on second base.

Third Base —
Reading Between the Lines for Understanding

Not all information lies in the sentences found in textbooks. Combining the literal text meaning with information or ideas within the reader is frequently needed to comprehend text. Making an inference, or reading “between the lines,” is necessary to discover ideas and information embedded deep within the content. It requires an equal balance of actual text ideas and critical thinking on the part of the reader. We want students to read the writer's mind by digging below the surface of the text lines. Unfortunately, making an inference is not a natural reading act for content readers. It requires active involvement on the part of the reader. That requires the use of strategies.

It is impossible to make a plausible inference without going through the previous vocabulary and plain sense bases. A plausible inference is more of a convergent activity where multiple readers might come to a similar idea. Content readers must be able to infer information such as writer's purpose or find the missing information in a math word problem by combining the text with their own thinking.

If you ask students to use text to verify a personal idea, or using sticky notes to highlight idea rich texts; you are an inference skill building teacher/coach.

Home Plate —
Reading Beyond the Lines for Personal Application and Creative Thought

Frequently, we hope students make applications of their content reading into their own lives. This can become a highly personally, divergent process as they abstract from the text and construct meaning of it for their own life. This discovery process is usually facilitated through strategies requiring students to write and/or talk about their reading and ideas with other students.

While not every content unit or lesson is ripe for this level of understanding, many strategies exist for training students to become more reflective. Becoming reflective readers is the goal of most reading curriculums, but few students accomplish it without expert coaching using effective strategies.

If your students regularly work in groups with previously modeled comprehension tools such as questioning, clarifying, or summarizing strategies, your students are probably hitting reading comprehension home runs already.

Had enough baseball? It's just a model of how readers and their teachers interact with a content text. The model won't cure hunger or save the world. But it just might help us categorize the hundreds of strategies used to move students through the processes of content reading. All of this will help students work toward building understanding of what they have read.